Posts

night club photo and official id badge recall

A photo taken at a nightclub has caused a lot of trouble for Cudahy Sheriff. The photo presents a women in a local nightclub smiling, holding two guns and wearing a badge that resembles the Sheriff’s one.
The photo emerged following three city officials arrest by FBI on bribery charges. While the Sheriff’s office spokesman Steve Whitmore said timing between these events and id badge recall was purely coincidental the solution has been widely criticized for years.
At this point you may wonder what badges are we talking about. Let’s go back few years. The idea of giving away badges to civilians is little over a decade old; initially it was supposed to be special reserve of elected officials who would get a custom id badge using the same design as sheriff’s deputy except the label saying ‘city official’. The goal was to improve community relations and security in the neighborhood. Noble idea, right? Not necessarily, critics said from the very beginnings. Corruption and credentials use abuse have been the primary concerns.
In result Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued a warning that the badges might help to impersonate law enforcement officers. The warning was issued in 2007.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department office spokesman Steve Whitmore said the recall action took so long due to bureaucracy got in the way of implementing the recall. Around 200 badges have been recalled.
As we write about law enforcement officer impostor stories it becomes clear that official badges need be given out very carefully and possession monitored as the impostors can be very determined in getting credentials.